


In Places That We've Never Been (For Reasons We Don't Understand)

by Eleven_11



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Angst, Colors of the Wind, Fluff, It's been two years, Louis moved away, M/M, Singer!Harry, complicated past, dance teacher!Harry, past relationship, singer!louis
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-06
Updated: 2018-08-06
Packaged: 2019-06-22 20:35:16
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,320
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15590202
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eleven_11/pseuds/Eleven_11
Summary: After two years, Harry re-enters Louis' life in a whirlwind of color. Neither of them are ready, but Louis guesses it's about time to figure out what it all meant and what it all still means.Title from the absolutely wondrous "Walking in the Wind" by One Direction.





	In Places That We've Never Been (For Reasons We Don't Understand)

**Author's Note:**

> This is part two of three, it'll be short altogether, but there's resolution coming! I promise!
> 
> Also! This is the last of the wordplay fics!! Of course, I'll still be updating the WIPs I started, but this is the last official week! Thank you so much for reading! It's been a ton of fun!
> 
> This is part of a Wordplay prompt challenge that a group of us are participating in for the prompt "Wind". To read the amazing fics that were written by the others on this prompt, [click here](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/wind/works), and to see all fics written as part of the challenge, [click here](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/wordplay_fic_challenge/works) or find the masterpost for this year’s challenge [here](https://wordplayfics.tumblr.com/post/175608230403/wordplay-2018-every-week-a-prompt-is-chosen-using).

Louis couldn’t help the pounding of his heart and the slightly manic smile that was stuck on his face. He was bouncing on the balls of his feet, hands clasped in front of him and eyes bright like the first rays of sun after a rainstorm. Not much got him excited these days, but surprising his baby sisters always did the trick.

He didn’t care that he was in the lobby of the day camp center, surrounded by a bunch of extremely bored-looking parents. He also didn’t care that he nearly ran when they were finally allowed back to watch the last minutes of the day’s sessions.

 _12B_ , he chanted like a mantra as he wound his way through the hallways and sounds of different songs and activities.

 _9…10…11A…11B…11C…_ he skipped forward a couple doors and landed at 12B, maybe a little more winded than he’d ever admit.

He peered through the door and found his little sisters immediately, face splitting even wider in a grin.

“How HIGH can a sycamore grow?” blasted through the room. They were doing some kind of quasi-choreographed dance with flowers weaved in their hair and eyes glued to their instructor who—

Louis stopped breathing for a second.

“If you cut it down, then you’ll never know.”

He was tall and lanky, with curly chocolate hair that probably fell past his chin when it wasn’t pulled back with a scarf as it was right now. He was in black jeans that looked like they’d rip from all the movement he was doing and a matching black shirt, rolled at the sleeves to look like a tank top. His feet were bare and his mouth was ridiculously pink, but the really remarkable thing was the smile it made as he danced and sang around. He was also absolutely covered in different colors and textures of ribbon—weaved into his headscarf, tied from his arms, and wrapped around his body like a very colorful mummy. The strands trailed behind him as he jumped and turned and moved in a whirlwind of color. Louis supposed he was leading the kids in whatever it was they were doing, but to him it looked more like he was just dancing around the room with no plan and not a single care in the world. And Louis knew him. He still hadn’t remembered how to take a breath.

“And you’ll never hear the wolf cry to the blue corn moon”

He recognized that it was Harry’s voice mixing with the Disney recording and he finally exhaled, letting out a sigh that definitely was _not_ a swoon. His voice was deep and rough but also smooth and sweet as honey. Louis wanted to swim in it until his fingers shriveled and he forgot what it was like to be dry.

            “For whether we are white or copper skinned”

Louis finally registered that the movements Harry was doing were supposed to be dancing, and he bit his lip to stifle a laugh. Harry was doing something that resembled skipping now, but involved a lot more bending at the knees and arm movement than Louis remembered.

            “We need to sing with all the voices of the mountains”

He stopped in the middle of the room and started twirling, turning into a perfect cloud of rainbows and sunshine.

            “We need to paint with all the colors of the wind!”

His head was thrown back and he was singing through his smile. He brought his arms down slowly as the music calmed.

            “You can own the Earth and still”

He was looking at each kid individually now, singing directly to them.

            “All you’ll own is Earth until”

His smile was shining out of his eyes with the force of the thousands of suns that made up the stars at night, and Louis couldn’t look away.

            “You can paint with all the colors”

Suddenly gleaming green eyes met his blue, and Louis froze in time.

            “of the wind.”

He took off in a cyclone of ribbon again until he collapsed on the floor and the children piled on top of him.

Louis nearly jumped out of his skin when applause erupted around him. It was loud and uninvited—thunder on a sunny day. He was brought back to the present and became fully aware of the parents surrounding him. He could hear Harry’s voice under the mound of children, probably trying to get free, but he couldn’t quite make out what he was saying.

Eventually, the mountain began to crumble and kids ran out the door past Louis to find their parents. Somehow he knew the last to leave would be his, but he was not prepared to step into the room Harry’s own little bubble.

“Oi,” he tried, but only a little squeak came out. He quickly cleared his throat and tried again.

“Oi!” Much better. “No love for the big brother then?”

Three pairs of eyes settled on him and two of them squealed in delight. In a couple seconds, he was hit with a wall of little sister.

“Much better,” he said, pulling them close and nuzzling his face in their hair.

He looked up to find Harry watching the three of them, face reddening further when his eyes caught on Louis’.

“You can join in if you want,” Louis offered, quirking the corner of his mouth up. He wasn’t quite sure if he was serious or not, and Harry seemed just as questionable about it. There was a time when Harry wouldn’t hesitate to join any group hug of Louis’. The thought made his insides do something insides were _not_ supposed to do when thinking about…whatever he and Harry had been.

Louis could nearly see Harry regain his bearings before he cleared his throat.

“It’s good to see you,” he said. And _god_ his voice had gotten deeper. It had been what? Two years since he’d last properly seen Harry? Who gave him the right to go and turn into _this_?

Phoebe and Daisy looked up at Louis with watchful eyes, waiting to see what their brother would do. They were too young to fully understand what was going on before. They just knew that one day Harry was a constant in their lives, and the next day he wasn’t.

Louis’ face softened at the memories, even if not all of them were good.

“Yeah, it’s good to see you, Haz.”

Louis wasn’t sure if Harry winced at the nickname, but he definitely reacted to it. He bent down to be at eye level with his girls.

“I think I saw some sweets by the front desk,” he whispered conspiratorially. “How ‘bout you go grab some of those and see how many you can fit in your pockets without getting caught, and I’ll meet you there?” He lifted his eyebrows as his baby sisters bobbed their heads up and down. Their giggles followed them as they raced down the hallway.

Louis took a deep breath and stood up to find Harry tidying the room. He wasn’t sure what to say.

Harry was decidedly not looking at him, but Louis also got the feeling that he wasn’t supposed to leave. That Harry didn’t want him to leave. The room was holding its breath too as the two boys tried to figure out what to do next.

What did you say to someone after _two years_? After knowing everything about him until the day you didn’t? After you stopped trying to talk, but never really stopped wondering how he was doing?

Even with all the classes Louis had taken at uni, he still hadn’t learned this.

Finally, after Harry had no choice but to admit there was nothing left to clean up, he cleared his throat. “You’re going to get them in trouble,” he said.

“Nah, I’ll take the blame,” Louis responded. “Never could resist some troublemaking.”

Harry smirked at that. Louis thought it was a good start until it fell back off his face.

“No,” he sighed, “And I couldn’t ever stop you.” There was a weight to his words, like Harry was cradling them in his hands as he spoke. He’d always talked slowly, but Louis knew these were significant. He wasn’t really talking about stopping Louis from getting in trouble.

He took a step into the room and Harry’s eyes shot up to meet his. He stopped.

“Look, Haz—”

“Don’t.” Harry looked at his feet, on bent on top of the other. “Don’t call me that.”

Louis’ heart burnt. He couldn’t swallow.

“Okay,” he said, “I’m sorry.”

Harry looked up again.

“I’m sorry,” Louis repeated. He knew Harry could feel the weight of his words too.

“Yeah.”

“Yeah.”

The room went silent again. They could hear laughs and screams from other rooms, but they felt worlds away.

“So,” Louis tried, “you do day camp now?” There was no judgement in his voice. “You’re good at it.”

“Yeah. Um. Thanks,” Harry replied. “I like kids, and they let me just do whatever I want.”

He shrugged and the pieces of ribbon fluffed around him, settling back down like a sigh.

“You look good.”

The air shifted. “Well, we really should be getting out—”

“Harry, I didn’t mean—”

“They’re going to need this room—”

“I just meant—”

“You just meant _what_?” Harry nearly yelled.

His eyes were just as bright as before, but they were burning with something else. Something hard and hot and difficult to contain.

Louis opened his mouth but nothing came out. He tried a couple times before he closed it and sighed.

“I just meant,” he managed, “that you look good. You look...happy.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

Harry was staring at him again, burning holes right through him. He’d always been able to do this to Louis. It scared him then, and it still scared him now.

“Good,” he said resolutely. “Because I am. I’m happy.”

“Good,” Louis echoed.

It was weird and Louis hated that it was weird. He was happy that Harry was happy, but he wasn’t sure if he believed it.

“Are you,” Harry seemed to really think through his next words. “Are you...happy?”

Louis swallowed but didn’t break eye contact. He could see something in Harry’s eyes. At one point he would have been sure it was doubt, fear, desperation. But he couldn’t make those calls anymore. He wondered what Harry saw in his own, if he saw that he was lying when he replied, “Yeah.”

“Yeah,” Harry repeated.

Louis wasn’t sure how long they stared at each other. He could feel the familiar pull forward toward Harry, and he could see him balancing on the balls of his feet like he felt it to.

“Are you lying?” Harry asked.

Louis quirked an eyebrow. “Are you?”

Harry let out a humorless laugh. He turned away, bringing his hands up to cover his face.

“It’s never a straight answer with you, is it?” he asked the ceiling.

Louis couldn’t help himself, “Haven’t tried to be straight for years, darling.”

Harry dropped to the floor at that, lying flat and groaning to keep himself from laughing.

“I hate you, you know?” he asked. Peeking an eye out from behind his hands.

“Figured as much,” Louis replied, going to sit next to Harry on the floor.

“Bet you did. Always had me figured out, didn’t you?” It wasn’t really a question. Louis shrugged.

“Yes and no. There was always a small part of you that I never knew what to make of,” he replied. Harry was still watching him. “Like your jeans,” he nodded, “never knew how you got into those.”

Harry’s chest rabbited up from the floor and he let out a single laugh. “Shut up.”

“Make me.”

Louis clamped his mouth shut, eyes going wide. It was an automatic response, and he knew it was _definitely_ not appropriate right now.

Harry was watching him with both eyes now, chin lifted slightly.

He sat up and Louis thought he was going to get up and leave, an apology already coming out of his mouth.

It was stopped by Harry’s lips on his own. By Harry kissing him. Harry was _kissing him_.

He shouldn’t be kissing back, but the motion was too familiar to stop. Harry was too perfect to deny. Always had been.

He pulled back and it took everything Louis had not to whimper.

Harry got up after that and offered Louis a hand up.

Louis took it and they stood in the middle of the room holding hands like they’d just made a business agreement. Harry’s eyes were solid and his lips were red. He opened his mouth to say something but two small screams cut him off.

“Louis!” they barreled into the room.

Two small blond heads stumbled to a stop as they saw their brother and teacher. Their mouths made little O’s and they started to giggle.

Harry quickly took a step back and dropped his hand. Louis didn’t move, but he cleared his throat.

“Hi girls!” Harry said, forcing sunniness into this voice.

They giggled more.

Louis moved to scoop the two of them up. “Alright you little monsters,” he said louder than he needed to. “Time to get. I’m sure Harry has lots of important dancing to do.”

They screeched and wriggled in his arms as Louis walked to the door.

He looked over his shoulder to Harry who seemed to be catching his breath. He flicked his eyes up to Louis, and Louis tried for a friendly smile as he walked out of the room. He only barely caught Harry opening his mouth to say something, but shutting it when nothing came out.

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” Louis said as casually as possible. But they both felt the weight of it. It was a promise, and it was a tomorrow. They hadn’t had either of those in a while. Tomorrow, they’d figure out what they meant.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading! If you liked it, please let me know! The tumblr post for this fic can be found [here](https://hereforhappylarry.tumblr.com/post/176713910383/in-places-that-weve-never-been-for-reasons-we)! Thank you!!!


End file.
